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“Oh! Oh, Michael you fucking idiot!”

“Yeah,” Davey replied, tapping his foot and looking at the screen. The dot that represented Michael and his quarry was almost at the fence.

“Come and get me!” Kelvin snapped.

“But that makes no sense!”

“You won’t get to him in time anyway! Come and get me. I will sort out a car to meet us there. We can still cut him off somewhere else.”

“But…”

“Do it!”

Davey growled as he flicked the switch on the radio.

“Fuck!” he barked. Then he turned to Steph. For a moment she assumed he was going to tell her to stay where she was, but to her surprise, he said, “Let’s go!”

They took a quad bike each, with their tranq rifles hung diagonally across their backs. If it wasn’t for the seriousness of the situation, Steph would have labelled that moment one of the coolest in her life. How she actually looked was irrelevant; for once, she was acting purely in the moment, without concern forhow her actions reflected on her.

“He’s clearly going to meet someone!” Davey called to Steph as they weaved over the mildly undulating terrain, avoiding trees and scattered ferns.

“What do you mean?” Steph called.

“He’s been paid off!”

Michael had said that money talked. He’d also made Steph aware that there was a black market willing to pay a pretty penny for things. Now, she supposed she better understood why he said so much.

The two of them carried on to the cabin where Kelvin waited behind a closed door. He didn’t open the door until both bikes had been stationary for a few seconds. Steph assumed this was a reasonable precaution in the circumstances. When he did leave the cabin, there was a cold fury etched across his face.

He marched up to Davey’s quad bike, swung a leg over and said, “Let’s get going.”

They went. Steph had half assumed that she would be forced to give up her quad bike, but either from a need for haste or simply an unconscious expectation to be served, Kelvin chose to be driven.

They headed northwards, passing the small ben. At one point, they ploughed right through the middle of one of the herds of deer, scattering them. Movement in her peripheral vision made Steph look around to see the pack of wolves careering over the heathland towards the panicked deer. She looked long enough to see the first set of jaws clamp onto the rump of one of the animals unlucky enough to have run directly towards them. Then she swung her head back around. To not look and thus crash, could be a death sentence. Besides, she got the idea that Kelvin would not be the most willing to stop if she did tumble.

Their going was quick despite Davey’s speed being hampered by his quad bike having to take double the weight. They weresoon in trees once more. Davey began to slow.

“What’s the issue?” Kelvin asked as Davey brought his bike to an almost walking pace.

“I’m trying to remember which way to go.”

“What?” Kelvin hissed. “How the hell can you not know where to go? I literally pay you to know these things!”

Steph saw Davey let the anger wash over his head, ignoring Kelvin’s spite as he replied, “I know, but usually we take the track. I’ve gone a more direct route so… it’s this way.”

“You’re sure?”

“Yeah, I recognise that tree by the fencing.”

Steph had managed to miss the fact that they were at the fence already. Now that she looked, she couldn’t help but notice bits of mesh in the near distance between the trees. They sped off again.

Steph was not exactly sure what she expected to find when she reached the gate, but she supposed it would just be open. Michael must be long gone by now and, she assumed, so would the lion and its new owner.

They reached a tunnel in the forest floor, the entrance of which had been left wide open. Davey took a sharp right to enter it, popping up on the other side of the inner fence. Steph followed. From there they made the short journey to the next fence. Steph wondered whether Kelvin would have people waiting for them like he suggested he could. Would they have to reach a main road first? How much would these people know, or would they simply provide a car? Steph supposed that having enough money paid for whatever service you needed. You didn’t look for a service provider, you created it.

The quad bikes trundled forward, weaving between trees. Caution descended. Davey and Kelvin went ahead of Steph, and it was clear from the way Davey was half stood up on straightened legs that he was uneasy. That was understandable; it was quiet.

As they rounded a large oak, the outer fencing came into sight. Steph felt odd being on the current side of it. Seeing the world outside it – despite it looking just like the trees and heath inside the fence – made her acutely aware of what a strange little universe Kelvin had managed to create in this relatively remote part of Britain.